Green ships and Japanese whalers in Antarctic clash

The Robert Hunter (foreground), a ship operated by the anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, follows the Japanese whaling ship Nisshin Maru in Antarctic waters. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

A sea battle between environmentalists and the Japanese whaling fleet was being played out among the icefloes of Antarctica yesterday with accusations of ships being rammed and attacks on crew members, and the issuing of a maritime distress call by one of the whalers.

Amid the most violent scenes seen so far in the battle between pro- and anti-whalers, the environmentalist ship belonging to the Sea Shepherd conservation group received two extensive gashes to its hull in what it called a "deliberate ramming".

The group claimed it had spotted the Japanese vessel Kaiko Maru as it pursued a pod of minke whales and moved its vessels to intercept the hunt. The events which followed are a matter of dispute.

The Institute for Cetacean Research in Tokyo, which is funding the Japanese fleet's hunt for 850 whales, said the Kaiko Maru, a "research" vessel, had been attacked by the two Sea Shepherd boats yesterday afternoon. "The eco-terrorist group has rammed and damaged one of the Japanese research fleet's non-lethal sighting research vessels operating in the Antarctic. The Robert Hunter rammed the Kaiko Maru. Afterwards, both Sea Shepherd ships came to either side of the Kaiko Maru, stopping her from continuing. This was done in the same manner employed by pirates," a spokesman said.

"Sea Shepherd then threw smoke pots on to the Kaiko Maru and released ropes and nets ... Its propeller has been damaged by them. The vessel is stranded at the moment and has already put out several distress calls.

"Sea Shepherd is conducting a campaign of outright destruction and terrorism. We have serious concerns that someone will be injured or killed," he said.

Captain Paul Watson, aboard the Farley Mowat, one of the Sea Shepherd ships, told a different story: "Robert Hunter and the Farley Mowat caught the Kaiko Maru bearing down on a pod of whales when they moved in and chased the whaler into the ice. The Kaiko Maru then sideswiped the Robert Hunter to push the ship into the ice. The Robert Hunter sustained a one metre gash in the starboard bow region. Shortly after the two ships were moving through the ice when the Kaiko Maru reversed and collided deliberately into the port stern section of the Robert Hunter causing a metre gash in the hull. Both penetrations were above waterline."

Capt Watson said the Kaiko Maru then issued a maritime distress signal. "The Sea Shepherd crew responded and requested just what the distress was. They did not reply. New Zealand search and rescue contacted the Sea Shepherd ships and said the Kaiko Maru was complaining they were in immediate and grave danger. We replied that we had not damaged them but they had deliberately rammed us twice."

Earlier, the Japanese had claimed that in another engagement, two Japanese crew had been hit by missiles. "One crew member was hit in the face by a bottle while the other had butyric acid squirted into his eyes," the research institute's Dr Hiroshi Hatanaka said.

But Sea Shepherd denied anyone had been hurt. "The claim, coming 10 hours after the events, is bogus. The video shot onboard and released by the Japanese clearly shows that the containers struck not a single person ," he said.